A man has made great progress in cunning when he does not seem too clever to others.

When a secret is revealed, it is the fault of the man who confided it.

Incivility is not a Vice of the Soul, but the effect of several Vices; of Vanity, Ignorance of Duty, Laziness, Stupidity, Distraction, Contempt of others, and Jealousy.

False glory is the rock of vanity; it seduces men to affect esteem by things which they indeed possess, but which are frivolous, and which for a man to value himself on would be a scandalous error.

A woman is easily governed, if a man takes her in hand.

The very impossibility which I find to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence.

High birth is a gift of fortune which should never challenge esteem towards those who receive it, since it costs them neither study nor labor.